


Nightmare fuel

by Failing_Physics



Category: Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types
Genre: And a happy ending, But also, Fluff, M/M, Nightmares, No Proof Reading we die like Men, Panic Attack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-19
Updated: 2020-01-19
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:14:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22323148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Failing_Physics/pseuds/Failing_Physics
Summary: Jaskier wakes one night from a terrible nightmare and only Geralt is around to help him
Relationships: Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia/Jaskier | Dandelion
Comments: 4
Kudos: 261





	Nightmare fuel

Jaskier couldn’t breathe. 

It was dark and cold and damp and something was restricting his movements.

And he couldn’t breathe.

Jaskier threw his hands up and placed them on his throat, fingers scrambling at the skin, tearing at the iron band that he found there. Something wet was on his lips, and Jaskier’s fingers came away red. A horrific feeling of dread edged with terror squeezed its way through his veins, and he could hear his heart beating faster and faster and faster. It was the djinn. He knew it, the creature had come back to kill him, and now he was going to suffocate. Alone. Jaskier opened his eyes in terror, his frightened gaze meeting only darkness. 

_ And he couldn’t. breathe.  _

“Jaskier.” Geralt bent low over the poet, worry edging into his mind as he watched Jaskier’s rapid breathing coming faster as his hands twitched in his sleep. Geralt lent further over sleeping figure and only hesitated for a split second before slapping Jaskier gently with his hand.    
“Jaskier!” The Witcher spoke more urgently this time and as if the word had shocked him, Jaskier woke, eyes opening wide as he surged upwards and clutched Geralt’s arm with white-knuckled fingers.    
“Geralt! I - I can’t breathe! I can’t-” Geralt had never heard Jaskier sound so desperate and terrified. “I ca-can’t breathe!” Geralt placed a soothing hand on Jaskier’s trembling back, his unnaturally sharp ears picking up on the rapid pounding of the bard’s heart. Indeed, Jaskier’s breathing was coming out in strangled, ragged gasps.

“Jaskier.” Geralt bend down to look into the poet’s eyes. They met the Witcher’s orange eyes with a frantic stare as Geralt gently removed Jaskier’s hands from his throat and pressed one of them to Geralt’s chest. 

“Now, can you feel how steady my heart is?” 

Jaskier nodded, a tear slipping down his cheek.    
“Okay, I need you to focus on it, can you do that?” 

Again Jaskier nodded, this time closing his eyes.

“We’re going to take a deep breath in together, okay?”    
Together, the pair breathed in deeply, the bard’s still shaky and uncertain.    
“Geralt-”

“It’s okay Jaskier. Let's take another breath in. See? You can breathe. Let’s breathe in again.”   
They stayed like that for a while, the Witcher and the poet pressed against each other until Jaskier’s breaths evened out and his trembling eased. Even when Geralt heard Jaskier’s heart slow and return to normal, the bard remained leaning on him for a long time until the sun began to creep over the horizon, lighting the trees with a soft glow. The rays had just begun staining the clouds a faint rose when Jaskier finally stirred in Geralt’s arms. 

“I - thank you Geralt. You don’t know how much that means to me. I thought that the djinn had come back and…” 

Geralt carefully studied Jaskier’s face, the slight redness around his eyes the only physical reminder of the night’s events, but if he was utterly honest with himself, Geralt was shocked at Jaskier’s open expression, the vulnerability there almost taking his breath away.

“It’s okay Jaskier.” He hesitated for a split second, “I wouldn’t let that  _ ever  _ happen again.” 

There was a long silence between them and Geralt was sure the poet had dropped off to sleep again until he said,   
“Next time you’re having a nightmare, I think I’ll return the favor by slapping you awake too.”   
“Fuck off bard.”

“You love me really.”   
“Hmm.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! As always, comments and kudos are appreciated!


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